The Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has called the Georgian assault “a crime”.

He has personally toured the beds of the injured, and spoken with refugees, across the border in North Ossetia, inside Russia. He said he could no longer bear to listen to their appalling stories.

One women told him she had seen relatives pushed into a house which was then set on fire. Another described an old woman and two children being crushed by a Georgian tank. Putin insisted it was “beyond the imagination of any civilised person”.

The prime minister returned to Moscow adamant that Russian intervention in South Ossetia was completely justified.

In front of television cameras, speaking to President Dmitry Medvedev, Putin said:
“People are in a difficult situation, especially old people, children and women. They have seen a lot of suffering. I would like to draw your attention, Mr President, to elements of genocide against South Ossetian people”

It appears there are moves to create humanitarian corridors for refugees to flee. But Georgia insists nothing has yet been agreed.

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